He stood standing on the balcony, looking at the sea and
the waves that was on it. He wished to go there and dip his feet
in the sand and play with the water. He longed to collect the
shells that washed up ashore and that was it… he wanted to make a
castle out of the shells that would collect.

"Mum, can I go out to the sea, please. I want to collect
seashells." "Not today son! The day is not good to go to the sea.
We'll go some other day."

He was sad. After all it was his vacation and he wanted to
spend this time by doing the things he wanted the most…and among
the things he wanted, playing in water was the best… he just
loved water…. He remembered the times when his mother gave him a
good bath and he remained in the bathtub filled with warm soapy
water… he did not want to come out of it…. His thoughts drifted
back home… but here he was with his mother, spending his vacation
near the sea…

He did want to go somewhere near water on this vacation, he
had told his mother and she did as she wanted…. They were near
the sea… but he was not permitted to go near the water… just at
that time his mother came to him and said, "Let's go out to
play!"

"Really, mum? But you just said that we cannot play in this
weather…" "Just come with me…"

Together they went towards the sea… the wet sand under
their feet…. He felt really glad that they were here… the waves
lashed on their feet erasing their footprints behind them…

They found a good spot to play and put their things down…
he started to collect the shells that he found there and his
mother started to dig a big trench around…. "What's that for
mother?" "You'll see…" and she continued to dig…

Soon, he had a handful of shells and she had made a trench
and called him inside. Together, they sat inside and built a sand
castle. The doors and windows of the castle were decorated with
the shells he had collected, small pebbles lined the base of the
castle while the little green mosses made a perfect garden…After
finishing, the castle looked splendid… he was really, really
happy and he hugged his mother tightly…

But he did not understand the need of the trench… his
mother made him understand that the trench was for the safety of
the castle they had built… the trench would stop the sea water to
flow into the castle and it would remain intact for a long
time…

He then understood why his mother had not let him go to
play in the sea at first… because without his mother, there was
no trench to save him from sea.